American Civil War Living History
& Battle Re-enactment
With Co H 2nd US Sharpshooters

Colonel
Hiram Berdan

Colonel Hiram Berdan (who also held a brevet
rank of General) was born in the town of Phelps in Ontario County,
New York the 6th of September, 1824
(Died aged 68 31st of March,1893 in the Metropolitan Club in New York
playing chess with Admiral Crosby.). He was educated practically and
scientifically as a mechanical engineer, and became well known for
his inventions, including among many a repeating rifle, torpedo boat
and a distance fuse for shrapnel. Colonel Berdan had been the top
rifle shot in America for an outstanding 15 years leading up to the
war. He was admired and therefore somewhat protected by General Winfield
Scot, nevertheless Berdan was regarded as a brilliant if unlovable
individual, unscrupulous and untrustworthy by the majority of his
peers. Though he created in the Sharpshooters some of the most versatile
and respected men of the war. It was said "to be effective
Sharpshooters they had to be as skilled in field craft as they are
in marksmanship, they must be self assured yet highly disciplined
and above all they must be dedicated".

Berdan's Legacy

Berdan had envisioned a selected group of riflemen to
serve the Union during the Civil War. What he got was an organisation
of soldiers that forever changed the impact of riflemen on future
battlefields. The 1st and 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters were an elite
force, destined not only to prove their worth as skirmishers, but
also to set the standards for light infantry. Operating in small
groups, utilising the terrain and cover available, these men came
to define the new order of infantry tactics. Specially equipped
and armed, the regiments formed a reputation in the field that has
to this day lived on in Civil War history.